`Molly Dodd` Will Have Her Nights On Nbc After An Autumn Vacation

LOS ANGELES — ``The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,`` the only successful new television series on any network this summer, has been renewed for a second season, NBC has announced.

``Molly`s`` continued life was disclosed by NBC`s chief of prime-time programming, Brandon Tartikoff, at a news conference. ``Molly,`` nearing the end of a tryout run of 13 episodes, has been signed for 13 more, he said.

The half-hour situation comedy, seen at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays (Chicago time), stars Blair Brown as Molly Dodd, a 35-year-old divorce living in New York City. ``Molly,`` after taking a vacation from the NBC schedule this fall, will return in ``midseason,`` Tartikoff said. That usually means December or January.

Tartikoff announced the purchase of another midseason series, also a sitcom with an initial order for 13 episodes, ``Day by Day.`` It stars Linda Kelsey and Doug Sheehan as a married couple who give up successful careers as a lawyer and stockbroker to run a day-care center in their home.

Tartikoff also announced that Jay Leno would host his second comedy special for NBC on the night before Thanksgiving. Leno`s first special, last season, was a flop with viewers and critics, but that apparently didn`t hurt him with NBC. His first special was a late-night show; his second will be in prime time, at 9 p.m. (Chicago time) Nov. 25.

Also, Leno will become a permanent guest host on ``The Tonight Show`` on NBC, beginning in September, substituting for Johnny Carson on Mondays.

NBC became the first network to announce the premiere times and dates for its new fall series: ``Private Eye,`` 8 p.m. Sept. 13; ``A Year in the Life,`` 8 p.m. Sept. 16; ``My Two Dads,`` 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20; ``A Different World,``

The official starting date for the 1987-88 TV season is Monday, Sept. 21, but it is not unusual for a network to schedule preseason kickoff times for a few new series, as NBC has done with three of its rookies this fall.

Last season, NBC was the most popular network in prime time for the second consecutive year, and New York advertising executives, whose clients essentially foot the bill for TV entertainment, are unanimous in their expectation that NBC will be the champion again in 1987-88.

In keeping with his network`s dominant position, Tartikoff had nothing but upbeat news to report.

According to Tartikoff, CBS and ABC have offered such weak opposition this summer that he is having a little trouble keeping his troops in fighting trim.

``We`re trying to keep muscle tone, set little goals for ourselves,`` he said, citing a recent unsuccessful effort to win all seven nights, a ratings sweep that has not been achieved by any network in years.

On Sept. 1, the A.C. Nielsen Co. will begin using new machines to compile the ratings that have been TV`s national scoreboard since 1950. These people meters will replace Audimeters, Nielsen`s measuring instrument for the last 37 years. Tartikoff, 38, NBC`s prime-time chief since 1980, appears to be adjusting to the coming of the people meters.

``Shows generally more urban in their appeal, which skew younger, tend to benefit,`` he said.

So Tartikoff foresees higher ratings from the people meters for returning NBC series such as ``Miami Vice,`` ``Crime Story,`` ``Night Court`` and

``Valerie.``

``We`re now a bit more cautious about scheduling shows in the `Matlock`-` Highway to Heaven` genre,`` he said. He did not explain, but ``Matlock`` and

``Highway`` are believed to appeal most strongly to older, rural viewers.

Tartikoff said the change to people meters ``doesn`t require us to come up with a whole new (programming) philosophy.`` Such now-departed NBC hits as ``Knight Rider`` and ``Remington Steele`` would have been ``bull`s-eyes``

on people meters, he said.

About the most worrisome sexual issue troubling the nation, Tartikoff said that producers and writers of NBC shows had not been given special guidelines or directives on how to handle the problem of AIDS and the accompanying clamor for safer sexual practices, such as the use of condoms.

``There is no more important question facing our society than the AIDS crisis,`` he said, adding ``normal responsibility`` by producers in the handling of sexual scenes and situations would be sufficient to address the issue.